It is been known for long time that caries is produced primarily by infection with Streptococcus mutans. Since the bacteria group is an endogenous in the oral cavity of humans, no effective strategies have been found. The bacterial group multiply to affect teeth primarily in children with high risks at 2-10ages of life. A rapid quantification of the bacterial group is essential for and a key towards predicting the development of dental decay. However, no such methods have been developed. Ota et al recently succeeded in preparing several monoclonal antibodies specific for the members of mutans group of streptococci. They have also developed an enzyme immunoassay using these monoclonal antibodies, which can quantify the number of Streptococcus mutans in the oral cavity in nearly 60 min after collection of test samples from patients.This study is aimed at developing a diagnostic kit for rapid quantification of Streptococcus mutans in the human oral cavity. Attempts were also made to prepa
… Morere more number of monoclonal antibodies and their specification.Six batches of monoclonal antibodies with different specificity were produced. All batches were tested for their specificity against 4 strains of S.cricetus, 3 strains of S.rattus, 15 strains of S.mutans 5 strains of S.sobrinus and 4 strains of S.downei. Among them monoclonal antibodies F-89 was specific for Streptococcus mutans. The monoclonal antibody was purified by use of affinity chromatography and labelled with horse radish peroxidase. A new identification system(membrane filtre-EIA)using the labelled mAb f-89 was found to detect Streptococcus mutans at a level of about 10^4 cells/mg of dental plaque or washings of patients teeth. A prototype of a diagnostic kit using this identification system has been produced and tested for efficacy against samples of dental plaque taken mainly from young girls.Results have shown that positive reactions were in good agreement with caries history of the subjects examined. A commercial model from the prototype was also manufactured and awaits further clinical trials. Less